This model is part of a Coral Sea Battle diorama which I will never do. It tried to show some of the ships of the Japanese support force heading for Port Moresby invasion, including CA Aoba and CVL Shoho. As far as I know, there is not a model for DD Sazanami in the market, but fortunately there is one for another destroyer of the same class and almost identical: Tamiya 1/700 Fubuki.I will also use the Pit-Road set for Japanese destroyers, which includes gun turrets, AA weapons, boats, davits, depth charge racks, radars, etc.

The first ships in the Fubuki Class were equipped with three 5 inch twin turrets Model A which could be raised 50° for AA fire. They were replaced later by the new Model B which had an elevation of 75°. The three original 24 inch triple torpedo tubes mounts were also replaced by Type 92 placed in rotating turrets. I used Pit-Road Model B turrets, torpedo tubes, AA guns, boats and davits from this set in the model. Although I am not very sure about the actual look of Sazanami at Coral Sea, I think that it was not very different from other ships of the same class such as Ayanami and Amagiri.

This was the second time I built this kit. I even keep the first one exactly as I finished it more than 30 years back. The layout is quite simple. It seems the ship configuration corresponds to the period before WWII judging form the turrets and the torpedo launchers. It was first released in 1972. Although it was a good model then, there are unuseful parts by modern standards, such as the boats. However, we can still give the guns, stacks and bridge a good use.

The first steps. Pit-Road model B turrets and depth charge racks were added. Doors and ladders are my own design. Aber railing in rear bridge. Other details that can be improved are the cooling pipes of the stacks. I did not sand them off completely because I used them as a guide to glue the new ones made of copper wire.

I used Tamiya acrylic paints for the hull and deck. The hull grey, which was also used in most parts of the ship, is a mixture of XF53 Neutral Grey 66% + XF63 German Grey 33%. I mixed XF64 Red Brown 75% + XF7 Flat Red 25% to get the linoleum shade of the deck and XF9 Hull Red 90% + XF7 Flat Red 10% for the waterline red. I started with the grey color and then I went on with the red shades after having masked the ship carefully. Most of the main parts of the kit (bridge, funnels, torpedo launchers, etc.) were painted apart. It is advisable to glue the torpedo launchers before the funnels because they don't fit well if we do it the other way round and we can also spoil the painted parts.

I made modifications and added some other details which did not appear in my first reference sources. First I changed the position of the depth charge racks, and placed them correctly astern. Then I built a very small fairleader in the bows with copper wire. Most, if not all, Japanese destroyers of the time carried this element instead of the imperial chrysanthemum which larger warships had. I glued a pair of lifebelts in the bridge which I built as I explain in this article. The fire ranger comes from the Pit-Road set. I also used Eduard PE for the railing. Another element that I rebuilt was the tiny watchman's nest, which is rather big in the model. I used Pit-Road parts for the main guns although the gun canvas is, I think, big for this scale and the guns look too near.

The auxiliary boats were worked apart. I used the ones from the Pit-Road set with their davits. I built oars (article) and rudders for wooden boats with copper wire. The motor boats were also fitted tiny rudders, flagpoles and sidelights made of wire, and the rubber fenders were made with cyanocrilate painted slightly darker than the rest of the boat. I painted the oars in a clearer shade to make them stand out.

Originally AA weapons consisted of 2 13 mm machine guns, however some sources tell the ship had 3 25 mm double mounts which would have been fitted later. My doubt remained whether this refit took place before the Coral Sea Battle, so I decided to build the ship with her original AA configuration. The shelters were built using cyanocrilate as putty to fill in the rails, this way the result is more realistic. The white colour in the shelters, motor boats, gun canvas, etc. was made adding a little drop of yellow (Tamiya XF3) and neutral grey (Tamiya XF53) to the white colour. The aim is that these elements do not stand out too much and that they look worn and weathered. I also gave them two washes in black.

The final detailing basically consists of three kinds of works: weathering, rigging and the addition of some extra details, such as flags. In this model I made the three basic types of signal flags: the usual one, the code pennant (triangular) and the swallow-tailed flag. I used tracing paper and pencils, this way the colors are not bright. As usual I bent them to show them flying. To weather the hull I have drybrushed it, instead of using pastels, in three shades of Tamiya acrylic colors (orange, dark red and yellowish) which represent different stages of hull rust.

Other areas that I weathered in the same way (this time in black) were the stacks, turrets and torpedo launchers, the bridge and the rails which allowed to carry the torpedoes on deck. I used very thin copper wire painted in dark grey for rigging. The vertical rigs are glued first. The only difficulty is the main mast rigs, that must be cut and cemented one by one. The results are cleaner and better if cyanocrilate is carefully used.